Tag Archives: Sittingbourne

KCC Councillor’s Report March 2024

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Rich Lehmann

I’m acutely aware that in the last couple of pieces I’ve written I’ve mainly been talking rubbish (and recycling, and food waste), so I’ll change the record this month. The new waste collection contract will commence on Monday 25th March, and because of the widespread changes to collection days across the borough, there will likely be a lot of disruption and confusion in the first month or two, but hopefully the new dates will ‘bed in’ quickly.

BUDGETS

Kent County Council and Swale Borough Council have both now set their budgets for 2024/25. The current, widely publicised, financial pressures that councils up and down the country are facing have forced both councils into making difficult decisions relating to the cutting of services, and the increasing of charges for some of the services they provide.

It was an interesting experience for me. I’ve now spent three years as an opposition councillor at KCC attacking and trying to reverse or prevent cuts made in their budget; but now as an administration councillor at Swale, I’m on the other side of the coin, having to decide (along with other administration councillors) which areas to make cuts in, and then having to defend those decisions. Neither role is easy, or pleasant, and I find the whole process pretty exhausting.

One small silver lining that came out of the KCC budget was that the Faversham Household Waste Recycling Centre, which was threatened with closure in 2023, has been given a stay of execution for the coming year. However tips are still earmarked as a potential area in which the council might look to make cuts in 2025, along with libraries, school maintenance, the Kent Travel Saver (which would cost many families around £1000 without the KCC Subsidy), and “other community services”.

Swale have also made some tough decisions whilst attempting to balance their books. Although here it’s often more a case of increased charges (such as those for car parking) which appear to be the cause of the greatest concern.

To add insult to injury for residents, the continued reductions in funding from central government mean that both councils are effectively forced to raise their council tax rates by the maximum allowed amount (4.99% for KCC and 2.99% for Swale) just to avoid having to make those cuts even deeper.

I sincerely hope that changes are made in the coming years which mean that local government is given more funding to provide the services that our communities desperately need.

Rich Lehmann
rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk


Kent County Councillor’s Report January 2024

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Rich Lehmann

In late November I had the chance to visit a place I’d been wanting to see for years. Nothing as exciting as the Taj Mahal or the Sydney Opera House though, this was a visit to the Material Recycling Facility in Crayford where all of our dry recycling is sorted to be sent on for recycling and re-use.

Way back in 2017 when I was involved with the Plastic Free Faversham campaign group, I visited the incinerator at Allington where our rubbish is burned to generate electricity, and on another occasion we visited the site where our food and garden waste is turned into compost. I never managed to make it to the place which arguably held the answer to the most frequently asked questions around our household waste. Questions like ‘how clean does food packaging need to be before it’s put in the recycling?’ (quite clean, but it doesn’t need to be spotless), ‘can black plastic actually be recycled now?’ (sometimes), and ‘can I put tetrapak cartons in the recycling?’ (sadly, not at the current time, but soon!).

The visit was prompted in part by the fact that Swale Borough Council is about to start a new contract for household waste collection. From late March, our bins will all be collected by Suez instead of Biffa, and our collection days may change – a letter will be going out to all households in the coming weeks to confirm whether your collection day will be the same or not, and I will aim to provide this information in the piece I write next month if I can.

The new contract gives us a chance to try and redouble our efforts to improve the rates of dry recycling we collect across Swale which, over the last few years, have remained fairly flat and well below where they could potentially be.

There are two issues which cause our recycling rates to be lower than they could. The first is the more obvious one, that people are putting perfectly recyclable items in their household waste. The second, less obvious but more harmful one, is that residents are putting non-recyclable items into their blue recycling bins. This is far more problematic as it can cause entire lorry loads full of recyclable waste to be rejected when they reach the transfer station in Sittingbourne, which means (literally) tons of paper, plastic and glass is sent for incineration rather than recycling.

On the same day as the visit to Crayford, we visited the transfer station at Sittingbourne and saw two lorry loads of recycling unloaded. Unfortunately both loads were rejected as the levels of contamination within them were too high. Most of the items responsible for the loads being rejected were clearly not appropriate to go into the recycling. There were used disposable nappies, an old pillow, and a large amount of the material was shiny and stuck together with something that may have been used cooking oil.

A large part of our work in the coming years will be trying to get the message out about the harm putting non-recyclable items in your blue bin, and our comms team have already put together a video with footage filmed at the transfer station – http://tinyurl.com/sbc1223

Officers within the council often use the term ‘dry recycling’ when referring to the materials that are suitable to go into blue bins, and I think if we could use this term publicly more often it may help to shift perceptions a little and start to reduce this problem.

Rich Lehmann
rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk

Promoted by T. Valentine on behalf  of R.Lehmann, A.Gould & T.Thomson (Swale Green Party) c/o PO Box 78066, London, SE16 9GQ

KCC Councillor’s Report March 2023

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I’ve decided to write something a little more philosophical this month as I’ve been reflecting recently on the role of councillors in local government with regard to what they should do when their personal or political opinions differ from those of the residents they represent.

At council level there is rarely an issue. If a resident reports a pothole or needs help with an issue relating to schools, highways or any of the other things KCC is responsible for, I will do my best to get that issue resolved as quickly as possible. Similarly, with the seemingly never ending line of planning applications that come through for massive housing estates and ‘garden villages’, my views align with residents.

There is little conflict for me in most cases relating to housing. The Greens are the only major party to have avoided setting nationwide annual building targets, instead stating that “Housing provision targets should be based upon housing needs surveys produced or commissioned by local authorities”.  In 2020 a housing needs survey in Faversham concluded that the town almost exclusively needed one and two bedroomed houses, but more than half of the houses included in the latest version of the Duchy Estate proposals would have three, four and five bedrooms.

One slightly more ‘grey’ issue that has come up for me recently is something that I was initially firmly on one side of. In Teynham, a popular foot crossing over the railway is currently subject to an emergency closure, with Network Rail hoping to close the crossing permanently and divert the public right of way. To me, this seemed like an unecessary move as the number of recorded ‘near misses’ over the past few years was shown to be relatively few for such a well used crossing. I have now been shown some images which show that some local youths have been behaving very carelessly around the crossing, which has drawn me more to the middle of the debate.

My personal belief is that the enjoyment and convenience of the majority should not be spoiled by a tiny minority; and I still believe that Network Rail could, and should, do more to improve the safety of the crossing rather than simply close it. However I can also see that their desire to close it is not simply a box ticking exercise and that there is a genuine risk to safety if it remains open without any new safety precautions. In this case I will be encouraging local residents to respond to the public consultation, which will be opening soon, and will support the majority view.

Rich Lehmann
rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk
https://kentgreencouncillors.news/

Swale Borough Councillors’ Report October 2022

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Ensuring residents had access to bottled water during supply problem

Problems with water supply during the hot weather this summer left residents of Courtenay Road, Dunkirk without water for 5 days. Tim saw reports of properties without water on social media after Sout East Water had reported to the Council that all supplies were back to normal. He visited Courtenay Road to speak to residents and find out exactly what the situation was. He then arranged for a bottled water station to be set up at May Tree Nursery on Courtenay Road and moved a carload from Hernhill. The team from Howlands at Dunkirk kindly helped by moving a vanload of bottled water. Tim liaised with the emergency team at Swale Council who arranged for a water bottle station at Dunkirk Village Hall to be set up where residents could get access 24/7. Tim also liaised with South East Water to report exactly where the water was still off. The water supply was restored the following day.

Advertising van moved from motorway bridge

An advertising van has been parked on the motorway bridge on Selling Road since summer 2019. Several residents and both Selling Parish Council and Sheldwich Parish Council complained about the van. Initially the Police declined to take action. It is possible to use planning enforcement, but the procedure is complicated, costly and slow. Painting double yellow lines on the bridge requires a costly traffic regulation order. After an exchange of emails with the police, using some expert advice from Cllr Hobson of Selling Parish Council on section 137 of the Highways Act 1980, the police wrote to the registered owner who moved the van.

People power

There have been two encouraging examples recently where pressure from residents has made a difference.

A planning application was recently submitted to develop land north of the A299 Thanet Way at the junction with Plum Pudding Lane, Dargate. The proposal was for a drive-thru restaurant and several other businesses. Many residents objected due to the drive-thru, with worries about traffic and that it would be a “litter bomb” adding greatly to the debris in our lanes and hedgerows . There were also concerns about the industrialisation of the countryside. They organised a site meeting with planning officers which Alastair attended. Tim ‘called-in’ the application, meaning it will have to be considered by the planning committee, on the grounds of inappropriate site selection. The application has now been revised to remove the Drive Thru in response to residents’ concerns, though there are still questions as to whether it is an appropriate site.

The second one was about The Cave at Boughton Golf Course. This is the new name for the hotel here. Since July 2021, the hotel has hosted events with music being played outside late into the night and even frequent firework displays. Many residents of Poplar View, Bushey Close, The Street, Stockers Hill, and South Street have complained about the nuisance caused by the noise. Fifty-two residents took the opportunity of an application for a new licence to raise their objections to the noise. Alastair and Tim, along with several residents, spoke at the hearing on 10th October. A new licence was granted, but the owners have agreed to measures to reduce the risk of noise nuisance. Outside music and films must cease by 11pm (previously 1am), live music must cease by 10pm (previously 1am), the number of firework displays must not exceed more than 12 a year including New Year and bonfire night (previously unlimited) and with the exception of New Year’s Eve, fireworks may not be set off after 10pm. Finally, a noise limiter must be fitted to the PA equipment (currently no limiter is required). They have also promised to set up a dedicated “hot line” to the manager on duty so that action can be taken if there are problems, with the number on their website. The music from The Cave should not cause a public nuisance at your home. If it does, despite these measures, you can report it via the Swale Borough Council website (search “noise” from the homepage swale.gov.uk).

It can be very tempting to feel that there is nothing we can do when our environment is under threat; be it locally from noise or litter, or more widely from air and water pollution, or the really big one of climate change. It is good to see even small steps in the right direction, brought about by people getting together and making their voices heard.

Tim Valentine (TimValentine@swale.gov.uk) 07752 191807

Alastair Gould (AlastairGould@swale.gov.uk)

Swale Borough Councillors for Boughton & Courtenay.

KCC Councillor’s Report September 2022

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I usually stick to writing about local matters in my updates, but it would be wrong not to acknowledge the national events of the past month.

In the space of just a few days we saw a new Prime Minister and new government, and then on the 8th September came the sad news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

Queen Elizabeth was an incredible public servant, and the news of her passing has left many of us disoriented. Not only because the first week of September was already a time of great change, but mainly because Queen Elizabeth was the only monarch many of us had ever known. She was a constant in our lives (for many, most notably at family Christmases) from childhood right through to the present day and we not only feel her loss, but the loss of our connection to a fading generation. We mourn the past and feel a collective anxiety about what comes next. She will be greatly missed as a stable presence in our lives.

Coming back to local matters, the ongoing issue of the proposed cuts to bus services across many parts of Swale East still looms over us. KCC’s cabinet member made the decision in mid July to push ahead with the cuts, but I successfully appealed for the decision to be reviewed by KCC’s Scrutiny Committee. This meeting took place in mid August and the decision was referred back to full council for further debate. The full council meeting was scheduled for 15th September, but has been postponed in respect of the national period of mourning and has not yet been rescheduled.

Over the coming month I plan to start talking with parish councils to see what plans can be made to help vulnerable residents during the coming winter. Even with the newly announced price cap, energy prices will be soaring and some residents may find it difficult to keep their homes heated throughout the winter. I will provide an update on this in next month’s column.

In the meantime, if you are concerned about energy bills, this Which magazine calculator provides a useful estimate of what you can expect to pay for energy over the next couple of years.

www.tinyurl.com/energycosts22  

Swale residents needing extra support can also contact The Fuel and Water Home Adviser Service; contact Steve Pettit on spettitt@children-families.org or telephone 01795 889233.

Rich Lehmann

rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk

KCC Councillor’s Report July 2022

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Rich Lehmann Swale East       

There are two updates this month. Firstly, a piece on an excellent local campaign which has the potential to open up a safe cycling route between Faversham and Whitstable, and then an update on the situation with KCC’s bus subsidy cuts.

SOLAR CYCLEWAY

The Solar Cycleway is the brainchild of a keen cyclist and local campaigner from Graveney. He came up with a great idea to try and get something positive out of the hugely unpopular solar farm scheme in Graveney by campaigning for the developers to include a cycle path across the site, leading from the creekside path in Faversham across to The Sportsman at Seasalter.

This would make cycling from Faversham to Whitstable significantly safer, as cyclists would no longer have to navigate the fast, winding sections of Seasalter Road from Graveney up to the coast.

I have been working with the Solar Cycleway team over the past year to see what is possible in terms of the laws relating to public rights of way, and our hard work is beginning to pay off. Sustrans, the national cycling charity are now on board with the scheme and keen to assist us, and the scheme has the support of KCC, Swale Borough Council, Faversham Town Council, and the two MPs whose constituencies the path would be in (Helen Whately and Rosie Duffield).

Despite the strong support from every local authority, the developers have so far not budged and not met with us to discuss the idea of allowing a cycle path, but we now have a chance to employ people power to get the Solar Cycleway on the agenda. Although the decision on building the site was taken by the government, the developers now have to get some final details agreed with Swale Borough Council before they can proceed with construction. One of these details is a traffic management plan, which makes no mention of the danger their construction traffic will present to pedestrians and cyclists on the Seasalter Road.

Their proposals are currently on the Swale Planning Portal and we are hoping that enough responses about the need for walkers and cyclists to be considered in the plans will put the topic firmly on the agenda.  If you would like to respond in support of this project, please visit – http://www.solarcycleway.com for more information.

BUS SUBSIDY CUTS

Despite councillors from all parties presenting strong arguments against the council’s proposal to cut £2.2m from its bus subsidy budget, the administration at KCC have moved forward with this decision. This will have a huge impact on our area, leaving many villages without access to regular public transport.

I am in talks with officers at KCC and other opposition members to see if it’s possible to have the decision looked at by the Scrutiny Committee.  If we are able to do so, a Scrutiny meeting will take place in early August. I will report the outcome of the meeting in my next piece, and also provide updates via my Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/RichLehmannSwaleEast. 

Assuming the cuts go ahead (which now seems likely), the only public transport option remaining for some villages will be the Kent Karrier service. This costs £3.50 per return journey (regardless of whether you have a bus pass or not) and requires booking in advance. I will write more about the Kent Karrier in the next piece, or if you would like to find out more, search online for ‘Kent Karrier Swale’.

Rich Lehmann

rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk

Kent County Councillor for Swale East

Swale Borough Councillors’ Report July 2022

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Roads closures

The number of road closures in the ward sometimes makes it seem that the utility companies are trying to make it impossible to get home. It is understandable that the utility companies must close roads, to put in broadband connections, renew a gas main or fix a burst water main. But it seems to be becoming common for the “Road Closed” signs to stay up when no work is being carried out and there is no reason why the traffic can’t use the road. On many occasions the road is not actually closed at all. This casual disregard for the residents has knock-on effects, like the bin lorries not being able to complete their rounds. This issue has been raised with KCC and our County Councillor Rich Lehmann is also pushing for better coordination.

Member’s Grants

Each member of Swale Borough Council is allocated £2400 each year which they can grant to community projects in the borough. We use our grants to support projects which benefit the people of Boughton & Courtenay. In the past we have made grants to projects which support families with autism, the outdoor gym at Boughton, community Christmas meals, Faversham Pools, wildflower planting in Selling etc. The scheme for this year has just been announced so If you know of a good local cause that would appreciate a helping hand, do apply. Further information can be found here: https://swale.gov.uk/news-and-your-council/grants-and-funding/member-grants 

Local Plan

The Local Plan plays an important role in determining where development of housing and infrastructure takes place in the borough. The government is imposing a requirement on Swale to add 10,000 new homes to the current local plan. The formal plan is opened up for public consultation (known as regulation 19 consultation), before the final plan is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. The final stage involves Examination in Public by the Planning Inspectorate. SBC have now published a timetable for the Regulation 19 consultation to take place in October or November. We will be writing more about the Local Plan nearer the time.

Tim Valentine

TimValentine@swale.gov.uk

Alastair Gould

AlastairGould@swale.gov.uk

Swale Borough Councillors for Boughton & Courtenay

KCC Councillor’s Report June 2022

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Well, one year into the role and what a rollercoaster of a year it has been. So much so that the below was originally due to be my councillor update last month, but I couldn’t find the time to write it.

A year ago when I was fresh faced and two weeks into my tenure, the first piece I wrote for our local parish magazines shared a few of the ambitions I had in mind for my four years in this role. Among them were 20mph limits and roadside verges. Two areas which, at the time, I thought might be possible to make good progress on in my first year. Sadly these tasks both turned out to be more complicated than I had realised.

To get a change in speed limit there are a number of hoops to jump through, each of which can take several weeks. Progress has been slow, but I’m pleased to have assisted a number of parish councils to varying degrees in moving their requests forward. Sheldwich will hopefully have a long overdue 20mph limit on Lees Court Road by the end of this year, and, if all goes well, other parishes won’t be far behind.

Letting roadside verges grow long is another area more complex than I’d originally realised. Despite KCC’s vocal support of No Mow May via their ‘Kent’s Plan Bee’ campaign, many verges across our area were unnecessarily cut back during May 2021 and May 2022. In some cases there was a necessity to maintain sightlines for road safety, but in many more this wasn’t an issue. KCC are in a tough position on this topic as public opinion is still greatly divided. Recent studies suggested that Kent has seen a 70% reduction in insect life over the past two decades, so we really should be doing all we can to try and reverse that worrying trend. I will continue to push for KCC to reduce their use of glyphosates and leave verges that don’t impact on highway sightlines.

I would be lying if I said that my first year as a councillor hasn’t been tough. My hair is now greyer and I’ve gained a few lines on my forehead and inches around my waistline. That being said, the second half of the year was far more enjoyable than the first. The incredibly steep learning curve I started out with is beginning to level off and I’m able to respond to many more enquiries without having to go round the houses to get an answer. More importantly, this knowledge has bolstered my confidence in dealing with KCC related matters.

Regardless of political leaning, our local authorities work best for everyone when opposition parties can provide strong and effective scrutiny of the administration. In February I submitted a motion at KCC’s budget meeting which prevented the cost of school bus passes being increased for families with children in receipt of free school meals. This was voted through by the council and the cost of a pass for those families should remain frozen for the next three years.

All things considered, my first year has been a case of finding out just how much I didn’t know about local government, and then filling the gaps. I still have a lot to learn, but am looking forward to being more proactive as time moves on and I really get to grips with the role.

Rich Lehmann

rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk

Kent County Councillor for Swale East

KCC Councillor’s Report May 2022

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Rich Lehmann Swale East

Following on from the piece I wrote last month about the Kent County Council Bus Consultation, I have spent a great deal of time over the past few weeks working hard to raise awareness of the threat to rural bus services.

With the help of local volunteers and parish councillors, I posted leaflets to the villages most directly affected by the proposed cuts to let residents know which routes would be affected and how they could have their say. I then held five ‘drop-in’ sessions in Rodmersham, Conyer, Bredgar, Newnham and Doddington to meet with concerned residents and answer their questions, and also to assist anyone requiring help in completing a consultation response.

It can be very easy to feel daunted when responding to consultation documents. They use official sounding language and questions can sometimes be written or framed in a leading way, leaving it hard to work out how to share what you want to say.

Across the five drop-in sessions I helped a total of 36 residents fill in paper consultation responses.In many cases the respondents were people who for various reasons would not have been able to complete the consultation online. Whilst I’m glad that the views of these residents will be represented, I fear that they are just the tip of the iceberg and that there are likely to be hundreds more across the county who rely on these services but for one reason or another will have missed out on responding.

In addition to ensuring that residents’ views on buses are heard, the drop-in sessions were hugely valuable for me in my growth as a councillor. I have been on a steep learning curve since last May’s election, and various demanding elements of council work have meant I’ve not had as much time to spend in our community as I had hoped. Meeting people face to face and listening to their thoughts and concerns helps me to better understand the needs of the dozens of parishes, communities and hamlets that make up Swale East and I will be looking to hold more general drop-in sessions over the coming months.

One resident whose views particularly stuck with me was a woman in her 80s who had been getting the same bus for 40 years. She explained to me how she saw the same people on the bus week in, week out, and that the bus passengers were effectively a community too.
Kent County Council have a long list of responsibilities, the first of which is to “seek to improve the lives of all residents in Kent”. If they go ahead with cutting these bus services it will be a serious failure of that responsibility.

Rich Lehmann

rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk

Kent County Councillor for Swale East

KCC Councillor’s Report April 2022

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Rich Lehmann Swale East

At the KCC annual budget meeting in February, the administration put forward their proposed budget for the 2022/23 financial year. For a variety of reasons, they are in the unenviable position of having to balance the budget to provide more services each year for a growing population with increasingly complex needs; and do so with less money, because although council tax increases each year, the amount received from central government usually falls.

One of the administration’s proposals was to cut the current level of subsidy provided for bus services across the county by £2 million. Opposition groups put forward various amendments to try and prevent this cut from going ahead, but sadly were unable to get it removed from the budget. Unfortunately for Swale East, a fair amount of the services proposed to be cut are rural services, and a number of them serve the villages and parishes across our area.

A consultation on the future of these services opened on 20th February and will remain open until 20th April. It can be found online at https://letstalk.kent.gov.uk/bus-funding-reductions (or tinyurl.com/kentbus on most web browsers).

If you use these services, please respond to the consultation so that your voice is heard.

The services in Swale East in line for cuts are…

Kent Karrier – formerly known as Dial a Ride, this service provides a vital lifeline for elderly and vulnerable residents in communities such as Throwley, which are already without a bus service. If the other services listed below are cut, then demand (and the need) for the Kent Karrier service would increase hugely.

And the following services currently provided by Chalkwell…

8 – serving Sittingbourne, Bapchild, Teynham and Conyer

332 – serving Deans Bottom in Bredgar parish

343, 344 and 345 – serving Newnham, Doddington, Lynsted, Conyer, Teynham, Bapchild, Sittingbourne and Bredgar

And the following school services…

662 – serving Teynham, Lynsted, Doddington, Newnham, Ospringe and Faversham

664 – serving Conyer, Teynham and Lynsted

666 – from Faversham to Sheldwich

(The 666 Stagecoach bus from Faversham to Ashford will remain in service)

I will continue to work hard to raise awareness of these proposed cuts over the coming weeks, as I believe that the social and environmental costs of losing these services greatly outweigh the financial savings they represent. 

I will also be working with officers at the council as I believe the currently stated financial savings have been overestimated. One argument put forward for cutting services has been that bus usage is only at 70% of pre-pandemic levels, but figures I’ve seen suggest that these routes are seeing 89% of their pre-pandemic passenger numbers, which underlines their importance to our communities.

Rich Lehmann

rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk

Kent County Councillor for Swale East